Why Early Access?

“Carnival of Souls is launching in Early Access to gather feedback from our community and refine gameplay mechanics, balance weapon systems, and expand content such as additional levels, enemies, and features based on player input. This collaborative process ensures we deliver a polished, thrilling experience that meets and exceeds our players' expectations as we continue to develop the game toward its full release.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Approximately, 3-6 months, depends on the development flow.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“We plan to improve the game's performance, aiming for higher frame rates in future updates. Our goal is to enhance visual effects and sound design based on player feedback. During Early Access, we will focus on identifying and fixing bugs to improve the overall game experience.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version of our game is a fully playable single-player, first-person shooter, stylized rogue-lite. In its current state, players can engage in core gameplay mechanics that involve passing waves of enemies and collecting Soul Essences by killing them. After each wave, players are presented with an upgrade screen where they can spend Soul Essences to buy or upgrade weapons, muzzles, scopes, lasers, elemental bullets, and grenades. Elemental bullets include ice, electric, gravitational, and nuclear bullets, each offering different effects. There are also various grenade types available, such as fire grenades, electric grenades, and poison grenades.

Enemies have a chance to reward players with Perma Soul Essences, which can be stored and spent in the Main Menu Store for permanent upgrades, impacting long-term gameplay. Currently, the game features five different maps that players can access by traveling through a portal that opens after defeating a boss. Currently, there are two bosses in the game, along with various common enemies that spawn each wave. The game runs at 45-50 fps on an RTX 2080. One area that is somewhat bare-bones at the moment is the audio effects, which we plan to enhance in future updates.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“The final price will reflect the amount of content and features available at the time of the full release.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The users are going to test the game through a free demo that we will release later this month, or by buying it during the Early-Access period and interact with one another and the developers of our team in our Discord Channel, Instagram and TikTok pages or even via email that we have provided as a support contact. They can report bugs/issues they may find, suggest ideas regarding level design, enemies etc. This way, we will ensure that the final experience is going to be more inclined towards users' expectations and desires.”